Where the Great Ideas Come from-Summary

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WHERE THE GREAT IDEAS COME FROM-SUMMARY We love to believe in that eureka moment, where a good idea suddenly comes out of nowhere to the lone genius. In reality, ideas are born in very different situations. In “Where Good Ideas Come From”, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation to discover certain surprising patterns that explain the birth of good ideas, and what we can do to improve the creativity of our environment. Here are 10 big ideas from Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From… 1) There are seven patterns of innovation that appear over and over in culture AND in nature Steven Johnson explains that innovation and creativity are fractal: they occur by following the same seven patterns throughout the world, whether it’s a city or a coral reef. Culture evolves the same way nature does. More importantly, the world proves in both settings that innovation has its best chance of happening when ideas are connected, not protected. 2) First innovation pattern: The Adjacent Possible We usually romanticize the generation of new ideas. We like to believe in that breakthrough moment where one enlightened individual jumps ahead many generations with his idea, but reality is quite different. Ideas are are connected like doors. Open a door and you can see new ideas, but only ideas that are connected can be seen. It’s by learning from other people’s ideas, or previous ideas of our own, that we come up with new ways of seeing the world. It’s a constant connection of innovation. The reason ideas that are truly disconnected fail, is because there’s no connection with the present yet, there’s no application in reality. These ideas are frequently called “ahead of their time”. The key is not to isolate your room – your idea. Instead, try to connect it to as many doors -people, places, ideas – as possible. 3) Second innovation pattern: Liquid Networks Ideas

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